Australia is now home to a record number of people who were born overseas

According to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS today, 28.5%, or 6.5 million, of Australia’s 24.1 million population were born in another country, with the fastest growth recorded in those born in China and India which more than doubled over the past decade.

Australians born in those nations now represent 2.2% and 1.9% of Australia’s entire population, coming in third and fourth respectively, behind the United Kingdom and New Zealand at 5% and 2.5%.

As shown in the chart below from the ABS, in percentage terms, the proportion of Australians born overseas now stands at levels not seen since the 19th century.

Source: ABS

And here’s the top 10 list of nations where Australians were born.

Source: ABS

And here’s how that list has changed in percentage terms over the past decade.

Source: ABS

The proportion of Australia’s population born in New Zealand, China, India have all increased over that period, while those from the UK, Italy, Germany have all fallen.

In the year to June 30 last year, the ABS said that net overseas migration was estimated to have increased by 182,200, or 3%, from the levels of a year earlier.

“At state level, the largest net gains were in New South Wales with 71,200, Victoria with 65,000 and Queensland with 20,000,” the ABS said.